Watch-key



(No Model.)

:ELMQLF- 1). ROBERTS.

WATCH KEY..

Patented June 23, 1885.

@Moerg UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DUDLEY ROBERTS, OF IVALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS.

WATCH -KEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,699, dated June 23,1885.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, DUDLEY Bonnn'rs, of W'altham, in the county ofMiddlesex, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in \Vatch-Keys; and I do hereby declare the same tobe described in the following specification and represented in theaccompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 alongitudinal section, of a watch-key provided with my invention, thenature of which is defined in the claim hereinafter presented.

In the drawings, A denotes a Watchkey, and B the handle, the upper endof the shank or stem (0 of the key being conical to extend into acorrespondingly-shaped recess, 1), in the handle. A screw, 0, providedwith anieked head, 0, extends through the handle length- Wise of it andscrews into the shank or stem of the key. The handle at its upper end issocketed or countersunk to receive the head of the screw.

On screwing in the screw so as to force the handle against the shank,such handle on being revolved will,by friction against theshank,revolvethe key, especially when it is in engagement with thewinding-arbor of a watch. If the friction is a little more thansufficient to cause the key to revolve the arbor, the handle, on thearbor being wound up,will revolve on the key, without causing the latterto overstrain the mainspring or the mechanism actuated by the arbor.

The cone on the shank or stem and the conical recess in the handle, intowhich the cone extends and fits, answer two purposesviz., to extend orincrease the frictional surfaces in cont-act, and to pivot the handle onthe stem as well as on the connecting-screw. By so pivoting the handleon the stem, the liability of such handle, when revolved to loosen thescrew, is greatly lessened if not entirely avoided.

My improvement is applicable to the stem of a ste1n-winding watch, inwhich case the said stem would have to be madein two parts like the keyshank or stem and handle, and they be connected by a screw arranged inthem as described with respect to the said key stem and handle. Theusual ratchet would be applied to the handle, and the milled headcarrying the pawl to take into the said ratchet would be adapted to turnon the handle, all of which will be readily understood by watchmakers.

I do not claim in a watch-key or watch the combination of the key headand barrel with a screw connecting them, and with a spring to be forcedby such screw against the head or barrel, in order to produce frictionto hinder the turning of the head relatively to the barrel. In mywatchkey I have no spring, such key being in three parts only, insteadof four, as it must necessarily have when the spring is employed; and,furthermore, I have no auxiliary or clamp screw to keep the screw frombeing revolved in the barrel.

I claim- A watch-key consisting of the shank or stem to, having theconical end, in combination with a cylindrical handle, B, having therecess Z), such recess corresponding with and" receiving the conical endof the shank a, and the screw 0, passing through the handle B into theshank (6, whereby the stem and handle are held by the contact of theirconical end and recess without other instrumentality, all as fully setforth.

DUDLEY ROBERTS.

Vitncsses:

R. H. EDDY, S. N. PIPER.

